Pargo, Allen spark Sixers past Bobcats

PHILADELPHIA – A wink at an unexpecting fan is a pretty solid indicator of how Jeremy Pargo’s night went.

“Y’all caught that?” he said.Pargo, the guy the Sixers signed this week, punctuated a run-of-the-mill layup in a close game with some flair. He finished off his fastbreak bucket in the third quarter at the free-throw line, earning a traditional 3-point play out of his drive – but not before he cast a wink at a female fan in the first row.

Quite a first impression, huh?Pargo’s contributions throughout the scoresheet seemed to indicate that the Sixers will go to anyone and look in any direction if it means turning around their season. Maybe an 87-76 victory over visiting Charlotte is the start of that revival.

Winks included.“It was just in the moment of the game, confidence and everything comes out, personality, everything,” said Pargo, who had 12 points, six assists and four rebounds in 29 minutes.

Aside from beating the Bobcats, who have lost all but four of their last 37 games, the Sixers improved to 5-2 on their homestand, which comes to a close Monday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

For a team looking to build a head of steam heading into the All-Star break, the Sixers (22-27) will take it – even if they couldn’t close the door on these lackluster Bobcats (11-39) until late in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t just Pargo having a big night, either. Lavoy Allen totaled a career-high 22 rebounds to go with 14 points, becoming the first Sixer since Sam Dalembert Jan. 13, 2010 with at least 20 boards in a game. Allen’s previous career-high rebounding total was 15.

“All I did was put my hands up and the ball came to me. I didn’t do anything special,” Allen said. “I’ve had games this year where I haven’t been rebounding the ball well, so it was a great feeling.”

The Sixers took control in the third quarter, behind eight unanswered points out of the gate. That gave them a 46-37 lead, forced the Bobcats to call a timeout and turned the game in the Sixers’ favor for good.

From there, it became a spectacle – a chance for Doug Collins’ youngest players to get some run on the floor and attempt to one-up one another in the process.

Allen had those 22 rebounds, 11 offensive and 11 defensive, though his catch-and-dunk off Jrue Holiday’s spin through the lane might have been a contribution nearly as strong.

Evan Turner, perhaps miffed about an ESPN.com report that said the Sixers are gauging his trade-market value, had his best game in more than a week. Turner chipped in 16 points and 10 rebounds, including two points on a nifty fourth-quarter baseline move, on which he looked dead in the water.

Then there was Pargo, the new kid signed this week.

“I think you saw it (Friday) at practice, you could get a sense I was happy with what he was going to bring,” Collins said. “You can just tell a guy, he’s got good instincts and he’s tough. He probably could’ve had three or four more assists, but the guys weren’t expecting a couple of those drop-off passes. Very pleased.”

And with more of what he turned in against Charlotte, Pargo is sure to earn another 10-day deal, if not a commitment through the rest of the season. In one game, Pargo eclipsed what his predecessor accomplished in 20 days here. And there was that wink, too.

Pargo’s night wasn’t done with that third-quarter wink, though. The second-year guard played well with Holiday, giving the All-Star point guard an opportunity to play off the ball. Pargo even earned kudos from Holiday after finding him under the basket on fourth-quarter dish.

The Sixers might be on to something with Pargo, even if that means having to use Holiday differently.

“It kept him fresh,” Collins said, of using Holiday as the Sixers’ shooting guard. “I asked Jrue, I said, ‘How do you want to finish this game?’ and he said, ‘Let’s get that mid-pick-and-roll, let’s get Spencer (Hawes) down there, get him in the right spot for me.’ I thought he read the floor nicely. I thought that’s the best half Jrue has had in a while.”

The Sixers won, “which was the most important thing,” Pargo said.

Even if it meant having to rely on a lethargic big like Allen for rebounding, a newcomer like Pargo for considerable minutes and an All-Star point guard like Holiday out of position.